AustraliaPassenger indexes

The following passenger list are from ships arriving and departing Australian ports.

Note: Australia is historically endebted to the sea for it was our
only means of communication, trade and travel. All our capital cities
have major ports upon which this country has depended for its development.
Prior to the advent of air travel passenger arrivals and departures took
place aboard a ship (steamer, barque, sloop, brigatine, schooner etc)..
A passenger's arrival/departure destination could be classified as
International (eg..England, Scotland, France, USA etc) or Inter-colonial
(between Australian ports such as Sydney- Melbourne, Sydney-Newcastle,
Syd- Norfolk Island). There were also regular ports in the south
pacific region that were regular ports (eg New Zealand,Isle of France/
Mauritus) and especially the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa).
When looking for Australian departures and arrivals pre 1900 it is
essential to look for shipping passenger records, and it is
important to bear in mind that the majority of official shipping records
are held in the Public Records Office or Archives Office in each state.
There are certainly indexes for the records shared between states but
the originals generally remain the responsibility of the state government
body and thus usually lodged in their safe keeping.You may find genealogical and local history
societies have individual collections of indexes and or records relating
to shipping, the major state libraries have extensive collections of
passenger/port arrivals, but it is still imperative that an original
shipping record is sighted and researched.

There are a variety of schemes whereby one's ancestors might have
arrived in Australia. Initially one might be found in convict records,
or having arrived as soldier/marine/ / official government official
who oversaw the administration of the penal institutions. Alternatively
they might have come as a sailor/whaler/sealer on the variety of
international vessels that plied the southern ocean and who traded
initially with the Sydney and Hobart ports. They might be the survivors
of a shipwreck, brought on to our ports by other vessels. Or they might
be named in one of the international emigration or immigration schemes that
attracted so many to our shores. Or they may have arrived independently
by their own means.About the only certainty is that they arrived
by sea.

It is also important to remember that there were intercolonial immigration
schemes..whereby ex-convicts might be attracted out of Tasmania to ports such
as New Zealand, Twofold Bay and Port Phillip, so as to fill a labour shortage.
Our ancestors were far more mobile than is anticipated, so it is advisable
not to become fixed in anticipating a port of arrival. Whilst we tend
to view sea travel with some trepadition our ancestors
were far more regular users of that mode of travel, than what we
are generally led to believe. So if,for example, an ancestor is Irish..don't expect
that they came direct to your town in Australia,from Ireland. It is know that many
came to our shores only after having attempted settlement, or having
visited relatives in places such as America, Cape of Good Hope, Valparaiso,
New Zealand etc. Also..your ancestor may have been in ten other towns
before they settled in what you view as your *home* town in Australia.
There is also another unrecorded aspect of our early history..the runaways,
who traversed unfamiliar territory and came overland. They might be
absconded soldiers, sailors or convicts. They show up in all eras and
are not apparent in *normal* shipping records.
Broaden the scope when researching difficult ancestors...if you cannot
find them in shipping records perhaps they changed their name or used
an alias.
Or they might show up in a variety of other Australian records..